UK ETA, explained: the £20 permission most visitors now need

The United Kingdom now asks visitors who do not need a visa to get permission online before they travel. It is called an electronic travel authorisation, or ETA, and it covers trips to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, plus Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. You apply on a phone app or on GOV.UK, pay £20, and usually get an answer by email within a day.

It affects most visitors from Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and many other countries that can visit the UK without a visa. It does not affect British or Irish citizens, people who already hold a UK visa or permission to live, work or study in the UK, or most passengers who change planes without passing border control.

An ETA is not a visa. It is a check done before you travel, linked to your passport, that lets you board a plane, train or ferry to the UK and then present yourself at the border as a visitor. It covers tourism, visiting family and friends, business trips, short courses and a few other activities, for up to 6 months at a time.

The official source is GOV.UK's guidance, Apply for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA). It links to the application, to the UK ETA app and to the tool that tells you whether your nationality needs an ETA or a visa. Check it again just before you apply.

You usually need an ETA rather than a visa if you hold a passport from a European country, the United States, Canada, Australia or one of the other countries on the UK's visa-free list. Use the official ETA or visa checker with your nationality and reason for travel; it is the only list that counts. Every traveler needs their own ETA, including babies and children.

You do not need an ETA if you are a British or Irish citizen, if you already hold a UK visa, or if you have permission to live, work or study in the UK, including settled or pre-settled status. You also do not need one if you are transiting airside without passing border control, if you travel on a British overseas territories citizen or British National (Overseas) passport, or if you live in Ireland and are traveling from Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey or the Isle of Man.

That last rule matters for the Common Travel Area. Residents of Ireland who would otherwise need an ETA are exempt when they enter from Ireland or the Crown Dependencies, and people aged 16 or over should carry an original Irish government document that proves residence, such as an Irish driving licence or an Irish Residence Permit. The exemption is for people who live in Ireland. If you live elsewhere and simply visit Ireland first, run the ETA or visa checker before you travel on to Northern Ireland or Britain.

Dual citizens need care. If you are British or Irish as well as another nationality, you cannot get an ETA. You travel on your British or Irish passport, or on your other passport with a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode. People born in the UK or with a British parent may be British without knowing it, and GOV.UK has a checker for that too.

Apply on the official UK ETA app, available on Google Play and the App Store, or online through GOV.UK. The app scans your passport and your face with the phone camera. The online form asks you to upload a photo of the passport and a photo of the face of the person applying. You also need an email address and a credit card, debit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

You can apply for other people. On the app, the person must be with you so their face can be scanned; if they are not, apply for them online with a photo of their passport and their face. Families get separate decisions, and they can arrive at different times.

GOV.UK warns that other websites may charge more to apply, and says applying through another site or app will not get you a faster decision. The real start page is on gov.uk, and the fee on it is £20.

An ETA costs £20 per person. There is no refund once you apply, including if the application is rejected or you need to correct a detail, in which case you apply and pay again.

An ETA lasts for 2 years or until your passport expires, whichever is sooner. You can travel as many times as you want in that time. It is linked to the passport you applied with, so if your passport expires or you get a new one, you need a new ETA. GOV.UK's check your ETA service shows whether you have one and when it expires; you need the passport you used to apply.

You will usually get a decision by email within a day, but it can take up to 3 working days. The email contains a 16-digit ETA reference number. You must wait for the email confirming your ETA before you travel, and if nothing arrives after 3 working days, check your spam folder before contacting UK Visas and Immigration. UKVI does not handle ETA questions by phone; it offers webchat instead.

With an ETA you can visit for up to 6 months for tourism, visiting family and friends, business meetings or short-term study. It also covers a permitted paid engagement, up to 3 months on the Creative Worker visa concession, and transit through a UK airport where you pass through border control.

It does not let you stay longer than 6 months, work for a UK company or as a self-employed person outside those narrow exceptions, claim benefits, live in the UK through frequent or back-to-back visits, or marry or register a civil partnership. For a wedding you need a Marriage Visitor visa. GOV.UK also suggests that people with a criminal record or a past refusal of entry may want to apply for a Standard Visitor visa instead of an ETA.

An ETA does not guarantee entry. At the UK border, an officer decides whether to admit you as a visitor, so keep your accommodation and onward travel details to hand. You only need to show your passport; the ETA is linked to it electronically. Do not set out until the confirmation email has arrived.

If your trip continues from the UK to the Schengen area, a different system applies there. See our EES guide for what changes at those borders.

The fee is £20 whichever route you use, so choose by convenience. The app suits you if you have a recent smartphone and the traveler is standing next to you, because it scans the passport and the face with the camera. Apply online if you cannot download the app, or if you are applying for someone who is not with you and you can supply a photo of their passport and their face.

The errors that cost people time are predictable. Some apply on a lookalike site and pay more for nothing extra. Some apply with a passport they are about to renew, then discover that a new passport needs a new ETA. Dual British or Irish citizens try to apply and cannot, when they should simply travel on the right passport. And families forget that babies and children need their own ETA. If you have a criminal record or were refused entry before, GOV.UK suggests a Standard Visitor visa may suit you better, so leave extra time rather than applying for an ETA at the last minute.

The ETA now applies to visitors from Europe, North America, Australia and the other visa-free countries, and GOV.UK lists the fee at £20. Check the GOV.UK guidance for the current fee, validity and length of stay before you apply.

The EU is building its own equivalent, ETIAS, which British travelers will need for trips to most of Europe once it starts. It has no start date yet. For the US, the equivalent is the ESTA. None of these systems talk to each other, so each needs its own application and fee.